I have been sick (if you know anything about shingles hopefully you will sympathize.)
The Cause of Shingles (Article from Epigee Women's Health)
Shingles is caused by the same chickenpox virus that many of us suffered from as children. This virus, known as "varicella-zoster," can lie dormant in your system for many years after initial exposure. This means that, even after your chickenpox disappears, the varicella-zoster virus remains in your body, traveling deep beneath your skin and along your nerve fibers.. This virus can then reactivate later on (usually years after you have had the chickenpox), and begins to travel back along your nerve fibers until it reaches the surface of your skin. This is what causes the characteristic shingles rash. Sometimes known as St. Anthony's Fire because of its fiery nerve and muscle pain, shingles can reoccur many times in some individuals. (The rest of this article can be found here)
I had the chicken pox rash on my lower back and across my right hip, Oww! That was not conducive to sitting and blogging, or much of anything. Now that is clearing up, but I am still having some weird nerve pains along the right side of my body. From the top of my right shoulder to the bottom of my feet will feel like I am being stuck with pins and needles or just sharp sporadic electric shock like feelings will hit me on that side. In an weird kind of coincidence, my baby sister in Florida called last week and she was just diagnosed with the same thing, and her rash was in the same area only instead of across her hip it went up her back. Her case has been much worse than mine. If you know Candi, you know she always seems to get the worst case of anything. She is the one that thinks she has the flu, but ends up hospitalized with e-coli poisoning, or her colds seem to always turn to pneumonia.
For some reason, no matter what it is, she seems to get the rough end of it . (I Love ya, Candice!! I hope you are feeling better!!) Well, now that you all have had an update on me - the 3 posts (yes I did 3 posts today!!) below are the updates you all more than likely came to see: |
My dad had shingles - TWICE!!! I hope you feel better soon.
BLESSINGS!!! :) :) :)